Police ask people to fill in void for safer society

For police to be successful in keeping society safe, they need community assistance, says National Capital District Metropolitan Superintendent Perou N’Dranou.
He said law and order issues, especially sexual offences, were rising at an alarming rate so the public also had the responsibility to support police in addressing them.
“We have only 700 police officers in Port Moresby to look after over 600,000 people,” N’Dranou said.
“Imagine the ratio of one police officer to more than 800 people.”
N’Dranou said this meant that police could not be everywhere in the city at the same time.
Speaking to students in a school in Port Moresby last week, he said it was important for the public to report and prevent crimes.
N’Dranou said they were now trying to reach out to communities and schools to partner them to combat law and order issues in the city.
He said they would be going out to schools and communities to speak to people about ways they could respond to crimes and how people could ensure that their communities were crime-free.
“Sometimes it is necessary for people to use their own initiative to respond to issues rather than waiting for police all the time,” N’Dranou said.
“People need to rise up to say no to crimes for their own safety too.”
N’Dranou said there were only few people who were involved illegal activities that were affecting everyone.